The plan for today, our last day at the temples, was to start at 2pm and end up at Pre Rup temple for sunset. So we had a lie-in and went down for breakfast just before 10am. As we were leaving the restaurant, our driver arrived, asking if we could leave at 12pm instead. We thought he'd realised we wouldn't fit in everywhere we wanted to go before sunset if we left at 2pm, but we later found out the real reason...

On our way to the temples, we stopped at a travel agents to collect our passports, as their Phnom Penh branch had organised our Vietnamese and Chinese vias for us and then posted the passports here so we could collect them. When we asked about them the guy appeared to know nothing about any passports, but then burst out laughing and said they did have them! I think his colleague in Phnom Penh told him I was a bit worried about them being posted, so told him to wind me up! Passports (with visas) safely back in our possession, we headed to the temple area for the last time.

First stop today was Preah Khan, a late-12th century temple and one of the largest. It is believed to have been a Buddhist University as well as a temple and a considerable city. It was a huge site to explpore and there were lots of photo opportunities, including the huge roots of a tree hanging over one of the walls - we were pleased to see it was quite quiet - the middle of the day is waht most people try to avoid, but we enjoyed being able to look around without the large tour groups. Just along the road, our next stop was Ta Som which was a lot smaller but had an amazing archway at the end with a tree above and long roots hanging down the sides - another excellent photo opportunity!

Next was East Mebon which has a rural setting, in the middle of rice fields, which used to be a huge baray, capable of holding around 5.5million cubic metres of water. It comprises of a central tower, and four surrounding towers and has some amazingly well-preserved elephant sculptures on the corners of the second level. On the way back to the tuk-tuk we realised we were out of water so decided to buy some from one of the stalls. As we started walking across the road, one by one, the women started shouting to us to buy a cold drink from them and waving bottles of water at us. Which one do we choose?? In the end, we just walked straight ahead and bought one bottle each from different stallholders (we did this on the first day too - they like to share the wealth!). The big bottles were $2 each at all the temples, but 50c each in shops in Siem Reap. When we commented on this to the women they said it was because they have to bring it from there. But then, they both gave us a small bottle of water for free, as a souvenier as they put it, saying 'Happy New Year!' to us - how nice!

The last temple before sunset at Pre Rup was Banteay Samre, in a remote, peaceful setting. It has been excellently restored and has a single oval tower very similar to the towers of Angkor Wat. Again, there weren't many people around so we had a peaceful wander around, taking it all in. By now it was 3pm and we were wondering where we were going to be taken next. Our driver explained that today was a celebration to mark the end of Khmer New Year, and suggested we go to a Pagoda where lots of people were gathering to celebrate. We were a bit unsure as we approached the Pagoda and saw all of the people milling around, some covered in talcum powder (one tradition is to throw it on each other, but our driver said not many people do it anymore), and all carrying bottles of water which they pour on the heads of Buddha sculptures, then collect the water running off the statues and use this to bless members of their family. We walked inside the compound, keeping close to our driver, and watched people walking around the Pagoda (they have to walk around it 3 times) and pouring their water out. We soon spotted 2 other tourists who were also there with their driver, so we felt a little better! Our driver and his friends managed to keep us out of the way of the talc-throwing, but eventually we all got hit! They came up behind you with their hands full of talc, and put their hands on your cheeks! This is the only day of the year that young males can touch the girls, so they make the most of it, and we saw lots of girls who were absolutely covered - we got off lightly! After an hour or so, we left and headed to Pre Rup for sunset. A few locals spotted us and our talc-cheeks on the way and smiled at us as we wished them 'Happy New Year!'.

Pre Rup looked very similar to East Mebon - I thought he'd taken us back there at first - but the views from the top were stunning. The sun was still quite high in the sky, so we sat down and relaxed in teh sunshine while we waited. Earlier in the day we'd bought a book called 'First they Killed my Father' about a girl who was 5 at the beginning of the war, and the story of her family's experiences, so I started to read that while Dave took photos of the sun slowly lowering in the sky. The temple soon filled up with people, but there were nowhere near as many who were there at sunrise at Angkor Wat yesterday. The view was stunning as the sun slowly set and we got lots of pictures. The tuk-tuk ride back gave us some more amazing views of the pink-streaked sky.

We thanked our driver and paid him for the 3 days - $50 altogether which we think is quite good value! That night we ate at a traditional Cambodian BBQ restaurant, and cooked our chicken, pork, beef and squid at our table (with a little help from the waiter!). We could have had crocodile but opted for extra chicken instead! Afterwards, we had a quick look around the night market, but we were very hot and tired so soon walked back to the hotel and the sanctuary of our air conditioned room! Planning on a relaxing day at the pool tomorrow...